[Openchrome-users] New openchrome driver -version appeared in Debian-testing

[Kevin Brace]

Hi Andreas,

This is Kevin Brace.
I am the current OpenChrome project maintainer.
I just released Version 0.4.0, and I hope this improves the situation you experienced.
I communicated with Timo Aaltonen of Debian X Strike Force, and he told me that he will upload the new version soon.
    There is a reason why the flat panel did not work with your laptop.
This is because the older OpenChrome was relying very heavily on what I call "known device table," and basically this was misdetecting the display devices attached to your computer.
Here is part of the Xorg.0.log you posted.

> [    24.500] (WW) CHROME(0): Manufacturer plainly copied main PCI IDs to subsystem/card IDs.
> [    24.500] (--) CHROME(0): Detected VIA VT3344 (VM800) - EPIA EN. Card-Ids (1106|3344)
> [    24.500] (II) CHROME(0): Detected MemClk 3

Until very recently, OpenChrome needed a positive match for PCI subvendor ID and subdevice ID to even think about initializing a flat panel.
In addition to this, an LCD panel option had to be specified manually in this "known device table" in order for it to work.
This "known device table" used to be located somewhere in the source code, so it is not something most end users can deal with it.
In your case, it was detecting a VIA EPIA-EN mini-ITX mainboard, and I will somewhat doubt that this supports a flat panel.
This is so problematic and going against the industry trend of automatic detection, so I finally got rid of it.
    I just took over the project 2 months or so ago, and I have different views than the previous developers on how to improve OpenChrome.
Besides that, previous developers went AWOL, so I was able to take over the project without much resistance.
It is my goal to improve the stability and reliability of OpenChrome, and while it might take several years for it, I am willing to work on it for years to come.

Regards,

Kevin Brace
OpenChrome Project Maintainer